New Mission Hills Library: Fiction or Nonfiction?

The City of San Diego purchased the site for the new Mission Hills Library, the former IBEW Building on the corner of Washington and Front Streets, back in 2003. Two years after the purchase, the City Council authorized funding for initial design work by the Mosher, Drew, Watson and Ferguson Architectural Firm.

The new library will be much larger than the current Mission Hills library. According to the city’s website, “the new 25,000-square-foot facility will replace the current 3,850-square-foot Mission Hills Branch Library located at 925 W. Washington St. and built in 1961.” The completion date for the new library was set for “late 2007 to early 2008.”

However, three years since the design process began and over six months after the proposed completion date, no further progress has been made on the project. Considering the city’s current financial status, there is a good chance the building might sit vacant and abandoned for a number of years to come.

The nonprofit organization, Friends of the Mission Hills-Hillcrest Library, acknowledge the delay on their website, “it may be years before the City can set a construction date.” However, they continue to be optimistic about plans for a new library. “When city finances improve, it will be time to actively campaign for the construction of our new Mission Hills/Hillcrest library building, planned for the corner of Washington and Front Streets. Stay tuned, the Friends are closely monitoring developments.”